This invention relates to the development of lightweight, structurally efficient, and low cost honeycomb stiffened metal matrix composite structural panels that are specifically applicable to aircraft, missiles, spacecraft and the like. In recent years, the rapidly increasing cost and limited supplies of fuel has accentuated the need for stronger lightweight aerospace vehicular structures. Metal-matrix composites are one class of materials that exhibit high ratios of stiffness and strength to density ratios that appear particularly applicable for these advanced aerospace structures and researchers are expending vast sums of money and time into developing improved structural panels from these materials. The primary purposes of a stiffener on a panel or sheet are to prevent buckling of the sheet when in compression and to add bending stiffness to the sheet under lateral loads. A structurally efficient sheet stiffener structure is obtained when the material in the cross-section of the structure is distributed such that the load carrying capability of the configuration is a maximum.